RAU vice-chancellor says farming must shed ‘tweedy’ image

The vice-chancellor of the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) at Cirencester, Joanna Price, has said that farming must shed its image of tweed land owners if the industry is to survive Brexit.

Professor Price told The Times, “We have an image of being populated by men wearing tweed jackets with leather patches and yellow cords. Hopefully, having a face like mine at the university will change that.” She grew up on a smallholding in Wales and started her career as a veterinary surgeon.

The comments drew a mixed response on social media and elsewhere in the farming press, with some ex RAU university students saying the university needed to sort out its own image first: in a Tatler article last year one student boasted about owning nine Schöffel fleece gilets. However, many farmers agreed that agriculture needs to do much more to educate the public and potential employees about how dynamic and science-led it is.